“Oh, has the new lady of the vampir given her orders and decreed we may now return to our business?” Lavenzia asks dramatically. I ignore her. But the words stick to me much like they did the first time she spoke them.
Lady of the vampir. Except I could never be, not really. I’m human through and through, of the soil of Hunter’s Hamlet. Daughter to a hunter.
My feet slow to a stop. I hear them behind me, but it hardly registers. Drew is right, I’ve never been very good at handling problems I couldn’t hit with a hammer. I’ve always known it, and I’ve never had to change. But this situation I’m in can’t be fixed with brute force and determination.
I am who I am. Ruvan is who he is. We’re meant for different worlds. Drew’s presence is fracturing whatever illusion I had been trying to craft. No amount of sheer willpower or bloodsworn oaths will ever change who we are in our hearts.
Someone bumps into me. I look over my shoulder and see Ruvan there, hovering too close. He leans down as the others pass us. Drew is talking with Lavenzia. The two seem to be arguing about how best to get him across the gap. Drew is insisting he will not be carried.
“Your thoughts are loud,” Ruvan whispers.
“Oh?” What does someone say to that?
“Usually you’re a quiet pulsing on the other side of my conscious—a gentle, but firm reminder of your presence. But your thoughts are pounding now.”
Like my heart when he stands that close to me. “I’m relieved to see my brother. Nervous about what must be done. Excited to end the curse.”
Before I can say anything else, Ruvan sweeps me into his arms. His movements are smooth, easy. He hoists me once more like I’m nothing. My hands go around his neck and in a breath, his face is terribly close to mine. I can feel his heart pounding, the blood in the veins of his throat. I’m reminded of how close we were earlier and how much we didn’t say, or do. I can’t stop myself from licking my lips. From wishing we might have been afforded just a bit more time alone.
“And here I thought it might have something to do with me.”
I arch my eyebrows. “Why would you ever think that?”
“Because that pounding gets worse whenever I draw near.” He stretches his neck slightly; our noses almost touch.
My worst fears incarnate. I have entangled myself with a man that I can seemingly hide nothing from.
“We’re being left behind,” I force myself to say. Just like last time, everyone else has moved ahead, and we’re frozen in place.
“So we are.” Ruvan moves, leaping into the open air and landing lightly on the beam that supports the other wing of the castle.
At first, I had been afraid of these heights. But now in his arms, I feel safe. Sturdy. Ruvan won’t let any harm come to me and that certainty allows me to enjoy the stunning vistas—the archways and pillars of the castle in all their crumbling glory.
“This place truly must have been amazing,” I murmur, mostly to myself. But the wind carries my words right into Ruvan’s ears.
“It was. But even when I was born, it was long enough after King Solos’s death that the castle was falling into disrepair during all the infighting and weakening of the curse. Then we went into our slumber and, when we awoke…everything had changed. It was worse than I could have ever imagined.”
I can hear the sorrow in his voice. Not for the first time I try and imagine how it might have been for these vampir—my friends—when they had encased themselves in magic and woke up three thousand years later to the decrepit shell of a world they once knew. The places that were fresh and bright in their memories now in ruins.
“When the curse is broken, will the vampir rebuild or will they move on from this place?”
“We will reclaim our home and it will be better than it has ever been. Of that, I’m sure.”
“I hope I can see it,” I say softly.
“If it’s something you desire, I will make sure of it.”
Our discussion ends once we reenter the castle. The rest of the group is already down in the chapel. Drew stands before the altar, looking up at the statue.
“It looks so much like the hall underneath the fortress.” Even though his words are soft, they echo in the cavernous space to be much louder.
“That fortress was also built by the king of the vampir,” Callos says. “It stands to reason they would have built a hall dedicated to more advanced blood arts.”
“And who would’ve thought it would continue to be used three thousand years after the formation of the Fade,” Winny murmurs.
“Except the statue of King Solos was ripped down there and replaced with that abomination.”
“The statue of the first hunter, Tersius. The statue that looks like the Raven Man,” Drew says solemnly.
